All this spending but no industry or long term jobs. …

All this spending but no industry or long term jobs. All Giles [wants] is spend Federal money to develop the north.
We need industry.
As for agriculture you will not be able to compete against other states. We already have an oversupply of food. As a farmer, the more you produce the less you receive.

Fred the Philistine Also Commented

Developing the North: Feds pick up Territory proposals@ Steve: I do not think that I am selfish, quite to the contrary. I have given thousands to charity, including the Children’s Hospital, Flying Doctor and helped people in devastating situations, such as fire.
I also do not think that I am ignorant, as I had the best education, in the world, which is life.
I am slim due to the hard work I do and do not receive sit down monies and never have.
Some people could take the same philosophy and try to do some work for a change. I have worked very hard during my 70 years and am proud of myself.
I have farmed for 60 years, growing beans, wheat, lambs, beef, hay and the list goes on. I have had the experience.
Have exported my products all over the world. As for the “lazy procrastinators”, we already support them. It’s called foreign aid.
In England, the farmers are paid by the government to plough their land and leave it, not to grow anything because of the surplus of food. This is the same in America. In South Australia’s Riverland, the government is buying the fruit blocks back, so they do not use the water from the River Murray. You should see the desiccation at Wakerie and Mildura because of no water usage.
Argentina have more beef than Australia, but their problem is foot and mouth disease which they have not been able to get on top of.
The real issue in Australia, is that farmers are not getting enough for their produce. They can produce a lot more, but financially not worth it as prices would crash.
I enjoy your comments. Slim Fred.

Developing the North: Feds pick up Territory proposalsI would have to agree with Evelyne Roullet as I have seen the effects of over-using water with vineyards pumping fresh water. They are stopping fresh water from running to the sea and reducing salinity. The sea water is being drawn inland and ruining fresh water.
They have also grown bluegum trees and they have used all the water. If you want to see devastation live next to a paper mill. On an average day they us a million gallons of water. As for growing oranges you need to go to the Riverland and you will see mountains of oranges dumped. As for people staving we have an over supply of food already but it is not distributed properly.
You need to go to Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and you will see farmers ploughing potatoes and tomatoes into the ground due to lack of demand.
In the NT you still need to eradicate fruit fly. It was only a few years ago when the ABC film crew crashed at Lake Eyre. They were filming the devastation to the pelicans due to the floods in Queensland.
The water contained chemicals from growing cotton. We have to be extremely careful with chemicals and try to keep them out of our food supply. As for people starving, some of the obese in Alice Springs could shed a few kilos.

Recent Comments by Fred the Philistine

Did Wilfred and Gisela Thor have to die?I agree with Baffel. Tourists should be more responsible, however, we need to take more precautions as well.
Having emergency packs in hire vehicles (like a knapsack with water, tourch, flares, space blanket, hydralite tablets etc).
Also on hot days, the rangers should be checking the car parks every afternoon at 4.00pm. If cars are still there he should then go and look along the track.
There needs to be more signage. Like all the parks around Alice Springs, the facilities and the signage are very poor.

If it is going to be built on the Melankas site, what about the sacred trees, or aren’t they sacred anymore?

‘Extreme vetting’ and Pine GapThe fairest thing is to send them back to their own country and let them come in through the proper channels like the migrants in the 1950s to 1960s had to do.

Four lanes through Gap: Does Alice need them?You are all missing the point. This town is a service town for the Indigenous.
People only come here for the work. If this town did not have social security moneys, this town would be even smaller. There is nothing here to attract people except for work.
You also have people who take advantage of the Indigenous, e.g. taxi drivers. This town is controlled by very few people.
What annoys me is the police at the bottle shops. This should be funded by the bottle shops themselves. Why should the tax payers pay for it?
Take the social moneys and the government grants out of this town and see what you’ve got.
A four lane highway through The Gap should have been built in the beginning.
Things here have been done so slovenly, but have made alot of people rich. There is no town planning in this town.
Maybe we need to get someone like Donald Trump to kick some arses and sack a few councillors and employ some who will get the job done.